For one who has either met their goals or who have been dieting for awhile I have good news for you. You won't have to spend rest of your life counting calories! Nobody wants to do that. This is point where you develop instinct - doing what's right for you. Your metabolism and body type will differ from person to person and nobody will know your own body better than you! Over time and a little trial and error you will be able to just look at a plate and know how much to take or how many meals you can eat during day based upon what you have taken. This becomes particularly handy when you are eating out. And when you are thinner with more muscle mass your body will already be more efficient at burning calories in first place.

Counting calories can still be beneficial to advanced people as well but these are usually athletes who have to make a certain weight or look by a certain time, like wrestlers or bodybuilders for example. You see in long run that dieting and weight loss when you study it is a science and therefore you have precise units of measurement. And this gets back to golden rule mentioned earlier. That is why if we take a scientific approach when we are starting out we are more likely to be met with measureable results. You can't argue with science!

-Make Sure to Eat-

Yes, that's right, eat! Also, make sure you avoid crash diets where you starve yourself. Restricting your calories too much will result in a loss of lean muscle tissue slowing your metabolism down. And we don't want that! Make sure to also spread your meals out evenly throughout day. Smaller, more frequent meals are generally considered better. Try a minimum of four. This way, your body will not think it's starving itself and won't be as likely to store food as fat. This is usually case when you only eat two or three meals during day.

-Negative things-

While these things do work, they are not viewed as favourable as ones described above because of certain side effects. These are things such as smoking. While they do work to a certain degree they seem to provide more negatives than positives. If you want an extra 'push' I would consider taking some time to research food supplements. They can give you more of an edge and 95% of them are good for you.

How Does It Benefit Me?

Well, besides burning more calories at rest you will look and feel a lot better. You will also be able to eat more and you will enjoy a more full life. Also, people who exercise regularly are less likely to lose muscle as they age and won't have to worry as much about 'putting on beef...' Try these techniques, they can work for you!